


WaterFire

by foryouandbits



Series: Tumblr Ficlets [3]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Ficlet, Future Fic, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 18:49:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8221220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foryouandbits/pseuds/foryouandbits
Summary: Jack and Bitty go the WaterFire festival in Providence just after Bitty graduates.





	

They weren’t out yet, and most of the time that was okay. They had never needed very much to be happy and comfortable together. It did get to the point where it was impossible to hide from their closest friends, so after long conversations and anxiety and tears, they told their parents (no one was surprised), they told Shitty and Lardo (again, no one was surprised), and Jack told Georgia just in case something happened where someone messed up and it got out. Jack didn’t want it to get out, wanted to come out on his own terms, maybe someday when he wasn’t Bad Bob’s son, when he had a Stanley Cup under his belt or at least a handful of good seasons that separated him from his father’s name.

But this was a day when being out would have been so much easier. How much easier would it have been to walk hand in hand down the bridge and look at the fires, watch them reflect in Bitty’s big eyes and then, underneath the blue and purple stars, kiss him gently and tell him there, in that moment, that Jack wanted nothing more in the world than to spend the rest of their lives together, and would you marry me, please?

It would be perfect.

But Jack sat next to Bitty on the bank, their shoes off and their toes touching the cool water, leaning back on their hands and pretending that they don’t notice exactly how close their fingers were to touching, how often their fingers gravitated toward each other. They’d brought Shitty and Lardo with them as a buffer, which has made this actually a lot easier in the past few months. It didn’t look as much like a double date, more like a group hang, and Jack could stand next to Bitty and talk with him and laugh with him and not have to worry if people would suspect.

The sun had finally set and they’d been there for hours for these seats, right along the bank of the river, but it was worth it. The night was warm and pleasant, the water cool on their skin, a gentle breeze causing the already-lit fires to dance in their urns. Jack probably could have made a donation and gotten the seats reserved, but that usually made Bitty uncomfortable, to spend his money on unnecessary things. So they’d sat there on the river bank, only getting up one at a time to get food or drinks or use the bathroom, and once the sun disappeared behind the buildings, lower back pain and sore behinds were completely forgotten.

Jack looked over at Bitty, staring at the fire in front of him, his face mesmerized by the flicker and shimmer of it. He looked so at peace there, his pale skin slightly red from the afternoon outdoors despite applying and reapplying sunscreen, his lips a bit chapped from the wind, his blond hair messy. Jack knew Bitty would call himself a wreck, but Jack would call him perfect, and he would flush and discreetly squeeze Jack’s hand and later, when they were alone, Bitty would kiss him and tell him “You always make me feel perfect,” and Jack would want to know if he could explode from happiness, even after all this time together.

A cheer from down the river caught Bitty’s attention, and thus Jack’s attention, and they leaned forward to see a boat approaching at a slow pace. A man was standing on the bow of the boat twirling two ropes with buds of fire on each end. It was hard to make out the boat in the darkness, but as it advanced, the outline of the man and his fire became clearer. It was hypnotic the way the fire swung in tight circles above his head, in front of his chest, across from each other and then in unison. As the boat passed directly in front of them, Bitty let out a quiet “Lord,” in awe of the sight unfolding.

The boat steered toward two empty pillars in the middle of the river, directly in front of them, and the dancer jumped to a bank in between the pillars and the boat steered away. Bitty sat up, his feet sinking into the water, as the dancer began to swing his ropes of fire faster and crouched lower until they were just hitting about to hit the water and then, with a gasp from Bitty, caused wet sparks to fly into the air, swirling around him, bits of orange light splashing into the sky.

“Oh my God, Jack,” said Bitty as he turned to Jack, one hand over his mouth, one hand on Jack’s leg. The sight was too beautiful, the sparks of light in Bitty’s great brown eyes, to care that this touch was far too intimate for public. “Jack, look how beautiful.”

“I’m looking,” said Jack, and Bitty turned back to the dancer, but Jack couldn’t look anymore, couldn’t look at anything else on the planet except for Eric Richard Bittle, recent graduate of Samwell University, apprentice at the best bakery in Providence, love of Jack Laurent Zimmermann’s life.

The sparks continued to fly in the air, the crowd enamored by the combination of warm, wet water and orange, bright fire, too enamored to look at two men on the riverbank, one staring at the spectacle, one staring at the other.

“Eric,” said Jack, causing Bitty to turn immediately, not accustomed to hearing his first name from Jack’s lips. Jack’s heart was beating as fast as the swirling balls of flame just a hundred feet away, his entire body alight with nervous anticipation that he did not realize he would feel, because he did not realize this moment would be upon them like this, in public, strangers just inches away. Eric’s eyebrows were high upon his smooth forehead, his eyes wide but worried.

“What, Jack?”

“I didn’t think I’d want it to be like this,” Jack said, “and I want you to know that this wasn’t my plan –”

“What wasn’t your plan? What are you talking about?”

“Eric, I can’t go another second without asking you to marry me.”

Eric’s mouth fell open and his fingers crept up over his lips, his bright eyes filling with tears. “What?” he asked behind his hands.

“Please, Eric. Would you marry me, please?”

Eric looked back and forth, back toward the strangers behind them, none of whom were paying them any attention, forth to the dancer who had lit the water on fire and was drawing circles in the air with its flames.

“Oh my God, Jack, yes,” he said behind his hand. “Of course I will.” Bitty began to cry in earnest, waving his hands in front of his eyes to attempt to suppress the flow. “Oh, Lord, Jack, I want to kiss you so bad.”

“Me too.”

And at that moment the dance was complete, the flames fell into the water and extinguished, covering the entire river in a sweet, sympathetic darkness, as if had been the plan all along. The crowd erupted into cheers and applause, and Jack kissed his fiancé for the first time.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this post](http://sufferbot.tumblr.com/post/150228161993/a-little-fandom-research-for-fic-writers-assuming) and more specifically by [this video](https://vimeo.com/94546148).


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